Schemes

Wham! Derek smashed his hand down on top of the ringing alarm clock, turning it off while simultaneously launching it off of the nightstand. He clicked his tongue as he threw the blankets off and got out of bed. He hadn't managed to get much rest and the sleep he did get was anything but peaceful.

All night long, Derek was plagued with flashes of memory from his night at the hotel. Normally, dreaming of such steamy affairs wouldn't be a problem but considering that the other individual in his dreams was a seventeen year old male that happened to be his new wife's nephew, it was problematic to say the least. In addition to that, those dreams weren't fantasy but reality which made the situation worse.

As he walked to the bathroom and started the shower, he began to think over what he had found out the day before. Shortly after leaving the hotel, Derek had gotten his hands on the surveillance footage. He watched the video of his arrival at the hotel bar and carefully reviewed everything from his meeting with Kain Grant, a representative of the K Construction company. Derek only had one drink and it was clear from the video the Kain hadn't spiked it. That left him with two options; either the bartender had done something to the drink, or, he was drugged some other way.

Unsure of which one it was, he ordered his assistant to have someone look into the bartender's background as well as Mr. Grant's. He continued to watch the tape and his expression darkened when Mr. Grant left and someone dressed as hotel staff guided Derek to a room on the third floor. Some time later, the video showed Aiden staggering down the hall and unlocking the door with a key card. Derek already knew what happened after that.

Then, he retraced Aiden's steps as well. He scoured through the footage and tracked him to the hotel's speakeasy. He was there with a friend and Derek spent a little too much time watching Aiden spin his body on the dancefloor. He watched everything Aiden did that night as well as everyone who approached him. For some reason, Derek found it extremely annoying how different men kept trying to flirt or dance with him and he was happy every time they were chased away by Aiden's friend.

Soon, Derek saw the friend try to hand Aiden a hotel key card but before he took it someone bumped into the girl and she fell. On the floor next to her was not one, but two keycards. Derek rewound the video and slowed it down. When the person crashed into Aiden's friend, she too dropped a card. They grabbed the opposite cards without realizing it.

Once again, he searched through the footage but this time it was to find an angle that revealed the face of the keycard's original owner. When he found it, he paused the video and scowled. There on the screen was Kain Grant standing next to a red headed woman that Derek knew all too well. Her name was Lisa Knox.

For years, Lisa had been trying to worm her way into the Montgomery family. She started by shamelessly flirting with him but when that didn't work she started trying just about anything she could think of. None of the investigations done had revealed why she was so obsessed with the Montgomery family but it definitely wasn't anything good. Now, he also had to figure out what Kain Grant would get out of helping her. Her schemes were always messy and sometimes even dangerous so the more people she involved, the bigger the fallout would be.

Derek sighed and stepped out of the shower grabbing a towel and drying himself off. He had enough to deal with right now as it was.

Meanwhile, in an office across the city, someone else was also having a difficult morning.

Slap!

"How could you make such a mistake!?" Lisa was livid. This imbecile her father sent was useless. She glared daggers at Kain who stood in front of her. He was a tall man with dark brown crew cut hair. Scowling back at her, a red mark slowly appeared on the side of his face.

"It's not my fault you couldn't handle your end of the deal! I got him drugged and gave you the keycard so all you had to do was sleep with him!"

"And what of the person you hired to put him in the room!? How could I sleep with someone who wasn't there?!"

"...He's missing."

"Ha!" Lisa smiled mockingly at Kain and crossed her arms. "Not only did we not succeed but now, thanks to being drugged, his guard will be up. How do you plan on fixing this?"

"Why do I…" Kain grit his teeth. "Fine. I'll look into a few things and come up with a new plan but this time we do things my way."

"Tch, fine! But tell me beforehand so I can wear black or something. Your way is always so bloody and I don't want to ruin any of my favorite dresses." She huffed and walked away and left the room.

A few minutes later, Kain was standing in the middle of the messy office, breathing heavily as he stared down at the broken coffee table he had just smashed. There was shattered glass all over the floor that crunched under foot when he walked over to the chair behind the nearby desk and sat down. He yanked off his tie and undid the top few buttons on his shirt before sighing.

"Where's the information I asked for?"

"Here, Mr. Grant." Another man approached the desk and handed over a file.

"And the man we hired?"

"...Still missing, sir." Kain grabbed an ashtray and threw it at the other man's head. The employee barely managed to block it with one of his arms.

"Then what are you still doing here? Find him!!"

"Yes, sir!" He answered before quickly leaving the office

"Useless!" Kain flipped open the file and began reading. As he progressed through the information his brows furrowed. "What the hell? Married?" He quickly turned the pages and stopped when he saw a picture with the name Lyla Winters next to it. His eyes went wide before he burst out laughing. "Ha ha ha!! Serves him right, that bastard!" He grinned thinking of the massive headache a woman like that would cause the Montgomery's.

Dropping the file on his desk, Kain leaned back in the chair and turned it to face the window behind him. The smile faded from his face and was replaced with a cold hatred as different thoughts ran through his mind. He was debating whether or not he should continue working with Lisa. At first, Kain thought she might be useful to him but that was quickly proving to be false.

For years, he had spent every waking moment gaining as much power as he could for his goals. The sweat and blood he had spilled was nothing if it meant he could have his revenge. He wasn't about to let some desperate little tramp get in his way now. If Lisa's antics continued to be problematic he would simply have to remove her from the equation. Permanently.

Kain sighed and swung his chair back towards his desk. Once more, he picked up the file and started flipping through the pages. There wasn't much new information to look over other than the recent marriage. According to his sources, the elders in the Montgomery family had been pressuring Derek to marry someone they approved of but it was clearly a trap to consolidate their own power. The marriage to some random gold digger was obviously Derek grasping at straws.

According to the papers in front of him, Lyla Winters was completely useless. She was even too stupid to use as a pawn and her two children weren't any better. However, there was a third option.

Turning to the last page, Kain smirked as his eyes landed on a photo of a beautiful boy with white hair and stunning blue eyes. Apparently he was the nephew of the incompetent gold digger. The information they had gotten on him wasn't much but at least he seemed smarter than the rest of his family. The boy might be a useful pawn if handled carefully. With that thought in mind, Kain picked up the phone and dialed a certain number. After a moment, someone answered.

"Yes, sir?"

"Put surveillance on Aiden Hale. I want to know everything."

"Understood." Without speaking further, Kain hung up the phone. He needed to find Derek's weakness no matter what. Hopefully, the beautiful young man in the photograph could help him do just that. If not, Kain grinned at the picture, well he could always find other uses for someone who looks like that.

Across town, Aiden suddenly shivered. He checked the thermostat in his room. It wasn't that cold, was it?